Healing is Hard
by Grumpy vulpix
Summary: The seven plus Will want Nico to hang out with them, which leads to an interesting situation with the son of Hades. Slight solangelo. Tiny hint of self harm, so if thats gonna bother you please dont read.


"Come on, Neeks, lighten up a bit, have some fun!"

"Go away Valdez" Nico growled, which barely effected the fiery son of Hephaestus.

"But it's so much fun, and hazels there, you like her!" Leo grabbed Nico's arm and tried dragging him out of the dark cabin.

"I don't want to go to the stupid lake with a bunch of stupid demigods" Nico grumbled. Leo kept dragging him. Nico tried pulling his arm away, but when he tried Leo made his hands steaming hot.

"Ow! Dude!"

"No way, you're not getting out of being social this time, Di Angelo! Unless you want a burnt arm, you'll come with me" He said, heating up his hand more to prove a point. Nico groaned angrily but came along anyway.

"That's the spirit, Ghosty! Plus, I think you'll have a good time, a certain son of Apollo will be there!" Leo said with a smirk. Gosh Nico hated when Leo got like this. Acting like Nico had some sort of a crush on Will. He so didn't, he just liked the way he looked, and his voice, and when he got too close he felt all giddy, and he actually liked when he touched him… but he wasn't gay, so that was out of the question.

Down at the lake was Piper, Jason, Percy, Annabeth, Will, Hazel, Frank, and now Leo and Nico. Jason, Percy, Frank, and Hazel were all in the lake, having the time of their lives. Annabeth and Piper were talking to each other on a blanket. Will was sitting in the grass, close to the lake.

Everyone was either in their camp shirt, in a swim suit, or shirtless. Or, actually, Percy was shirtless, everyone else had the camp shirt on. Piper and Annabeth were in swim suits. Hazel and Jason had their camp shirts on. Leo was wearing his normal outfit he wears while he builds. Will had on his camp shirt and shorts.

"Hey guys, look who finally came out of his chamber of sadness" Leo announced. Will looked over at them as his eyes lit up and the cutest smile formed on his face. Oh, gods, Nico, stop, that's gay.

Leo sat Nico down next to Will while he sat across from them.

"You actually got death-breath out of bed?" Will smiled at Nico, which made Nico's heart go ahdynjshudjhsajuh.

Leo smiled as if he was some sprt of hero. "Yeah, had to use my fire-"

"You did what!?" Will yelled loud enough for every demigod at the lake to hear. He grabbed Nico's arm and inspected where Leo was holding onto him.

"Dude, relax, I only used some heat, not full fire" Nico felt himself blushing, as much as he hated being touched, he didn't feel the urge to pull away. That is until Nico remembered all the scars he has on his arms. Will started running his finger on some of the bigger looking ones.

"Nico, how come-"

"from monsters" he said before pulling his arm away. It's not like it was a total lie, he had tons of scars from monsters. Will looked at him, concerned, but he didn't ask any questions. Then the son of Apollo turned and glared at Leo.

"You know you could've hurt him!"

Leo just rolled his eyes, "please, hurt him? I don't think I could if I tried, it was just to get him to come have fun." Leo said, poking Nico in the stomach. Nico flinched back and let out a small gasped from the touch, he hated being touched. He hated being tickled more though. He grabbed the other boy's hand and bent it back quickly.

"Fu- Nico, bad!" Leo yelled, pulling his hand away while Will laughed at him.

"Nice Neeks" Will said, raising his hand for a high five. Nico just stared at him. Will smiled, wrapped his arms around the son of hades, and ruffled his hair.

"No, agh, Will!" He yelled. Will pulled away and smiled. Leo and the other demigods laughed. He rubbed his hand on his head, trying to fix his already messy hair.

They stayed like that for a while. Leo made 12 too many jokes, which all made Will laugh. Piper and Annabeth joined them at one point. Every once in a while they'd get splashed by Percy or Hazel.

Nico felt happy, he was kind of glad the annoying son of Hephaestus dragged him out here. He still tried not to feel too comfortable with the others. H refused to talk much, but Will kept finding ways to drag him into the conversations anyway.

It had to of been at least 2 that he was there.

"Come on Nico, don't you want to go swimming?" Piper said, trying to use her charm speak on Nico, just to see if she could. "it's all nice and refreshing, yeah, lets all go swimming together!" Nico just rolled his eyes, though it seemed to be working with Leo. He kept staring at the lake like it was the first sight of water in days.

"Not you Leo" Piper laughed. Leo looked embarrassed, which made for a good laugh from all the demigods.

"Jeez Nico, not even charm speak works on you, it's like you're not even human" Percy said, getting out of the lake to join the group. He sat next to Annabeth and smiled at her.

"Percy, were all not human, that's why were halfbloods." Nico stated flatly. Percy just rolled his eyes,

"Yeah but you're even less human than us. I mean, you aren't affected by charm speak, you rarely smile, you're not ticklish. You're like a whole new creature! A Nico of a creature!" Percy yelled happily. Nico tensed at the thought of being tickled, he hoped no one noticed.

"What are you talking about, Jackson? Nico's super ticklish!" Hazel questioned. Nico stared at her in horror, he told her not to tell anyone.

"Wait, what, he's ticklish?" Percy asked. He poked Nico in the side, which caused him to make a weird gasp sound. He scooted back and hit Percy's hand away. "Woah, you are, aren't you ,Nico!"

Nico glared at Percy, then looked at Will for help. He just smiled, not his usual smile, more like his, "see, you're one of us" smiles. Nico sneered at him. He hated that smile.

"Just, shut up, I'm not ticklish. Percy just surprised me." Nico stated, putting anger into his voice. Unfortunately they didn't seem at all affected by the ghost king's anger. Percy was smiling way too big. Annabeth and piper were trying to figure out where he would be most ticklish. Leo looked like he was plotting something. Jason and Frank were now coming over to see what's going on. Will was trying to get Nico to get back closer to the group. And Hazel was now sitting near Leo with a smile on her face, not a smile smile, but a "got ya" smile.

"But you are ticklish silly, I'll show them!" Hazel came closer, Nico tried to get up, but Percy and Will grabbed hold of his arms.

"Hazel, stay awa-," Hazel jumped on him, which made the other two let go of him. "Hazel, no, get off me!" Nico growled, trying his best to scare her. His voice began to work on the others, but it didn't stop her, didn't even slow her down.

"Hazel, Hazel, stop, seriously, Sto-" She pinned his arms down above his head. He bit his lip and hoped she would show mercy. That's when all hell broke loose

Hazel started tickling his armpits first. Nico started kicking, squirming, and pretty much anything he could to get his sister off of him.

"HAZEEELLL, HAZEL, HAAASJSJJLLLL, STOOOP, PLEEEEAAASE! STOP, STOP, STOOOAAAP!" Each word being clouded by laughs and gasps. He kept kicking and laughing, but nothing could stop the Hazel. She tickled his armpits, going down to his ribs and stomach. Once she reached his stomach he started squirming more until he squeaked. Gosh, a squeak, he hated that sound.

"Oh my gods, he really is ticklish," Piper cheered.

"He's just like a little kid again," Percy laughed.

"Not so scary anymore, are ya, ghost king" Leo said way too confidently.

Nico could've sworn he heard Will say, "that's so adorable!" But he couldn't tell for sure over his own laugher.

It stayed like that for a few minutes, getting worse and worse. Hazel smiled at her laughing brother, "see, isn't it fun to show emotion once in a while, Bro!" She smiled so huge, Nico could hardly see it though, he was laughing too hard.

"NO, PLEEEAA—SSSS, AGH, BIANCA!" Nico yelled.

Hazel stopped immediately after the last part. She let go of his arms. Everyone stopped smiling, everything went quiet. Nico covered his mouth to stop his laughing, but quickly realized what he had said. Everyone was quiet, they were all staring at Nico. He shoved Hazel off of him and tried to run, but before he could get away Leo jumped up and grabbed a hold of him.

"Wait, it's okay, you're okay!" Hazel shouted, trying to get through to her brother. Nico started jerking around, trying to get away from Leo. Will ran over to him and held his other arm, rubbing his shoulder to help him calm down.

"Neeks, shh, hey, Nico, it's okay, lets just go back to talking," Will said the softest voice he could manage. The voice he used to calm his patience when they wouldn't calm down. It didn't seem to help, but he kept going. "You're okay, just breath, we can go back to having a fun day."

Nico couldn't believe himself. He just made a complete fool of himself, laughed harder than anyone besides his old sister has ever seen him, then he shouts her name for all to hear. He wanted to hurt himself for that, but not before he killed everyone at this gods ridden camp. He kept trying his best to get away from everyone as they kept saying things to help. They weren't helping. Everyone talking to him, Piper trying to use her charm speak on him, Will fucking Solace holding on to his arm, keeping him there, rubbing his shoulder. It was way too much.

He turned so Leo's arms would strain to hold him there, then spun and elbowed him in the gut. Since he was being held put he knew it wouldn't hurt that much, but it was enough to get the son of Hephaestus to let go.

Nico then shoved Will away from him. He had a looser grip on the son of Hades so it wasn't that hard. Will fell to the ground and looked at him with sad eyes. Leo grabbed Nico's arm again, which just made things worse. He yanked his arm away and stepped back. Leo tried to grab him again but jumped back quickly. He kept avoiding Leo's grasp while everyone else just watched, unsure of what to do.

"Nico, come on, you're over reacting!"

"Shut it Valde-EEP" SPLASH. Nico yelled as he fell backwards, into the lake. He tried to stay above the surface, coughing out water from his lungs. He quickly grabbed onto the edge, trying to pull himself out while he coughed.

No one was sure what to be more surprised at, the fact that Nico just fell into the lake, or the squeak that came out as he fell.

Leo helped him up and out of the lake. Everyone else got up, wanting to help, but stayed put. They were all kind of scared at the son of Hades.

Nico stood up and pulled his arm away from Leo again. His hair was sopping wet and covering his face. He was completely soaked, and he hated getting wet.

Will ran to Nico and tried to check if he's hurt. Will needed to make sure he didn't breath in any water. "Neeks, oh gods, are you ok!" Will sounded scared. He moved the hair from Nico's face. Nico refused to make eye contact, he was so very angry.

Suddenly the ground began to shake. Cracks formed in the ground, water splashed everywhere. Skeleton hands started clawing their way out of the ground. Everyone except Hazel and Will held their ears as the ground roared. Percy held onto Annabeth, Piper tried to yell over the earthquake, maybe she was trying to use charm speak, Nico couldn't tell.

Will grabbed both of Nico's shoulders and made him face him.

"Sunshine, it's okay, calm down, everything is okay now, just breath, please!" When Will said please like that, it usually helped the son of hades, but not this time. Will then did his riskiest move yet. He wrapped his arms around Nico, trying his hardest to make him feel better.

Nico refused to move, or even look at the on of Apollo. He was trying to focus on his anger, his revenge, the skeletons coming from the ground. But everything was hard to focus on when will hugged him like that

"Neeks, please, you're scaring everyone, please Sunshine, this isn't you!" The blonde pleaded. The shaking slowed, skeletons stopped, cracks sealed, everything went calm. After a few seconds Will pulled away.

He looked down at Nico, who now had tears streaming down his face.

"Oh, Neeks, hey, it's alright, everything is okay no-" Will couldn't finish his sentence. Nico pushed Will away and ran to his cabin.

No one knew what to do, it only took 8 minutes for everyone to be done with lake time, even Percy. They all stayed there, either sitting or trying to cover the scars in the earth from the skeletons.

Will didn't help, he didn't try to make the others feel better. He just sat, staring at the hades cabin. He knew he should do something, but he also knew the dark son of hades would hate him, maybe forever, if he tried to talk to him.

Hazel stood next to him, she had tears forming in her eyes. It was obvious she blamed herself. Will put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

After what felt like an hour, he stood up and made his way to Nico's cabin.

He knocked on the door, no answer.

"Hey Nico, are you ok in there?" Gosh will, what a stupid thing to ask, obviously he's not okay!

From inside the cabin Will could hear the faint sound of crying…whimpering.. someone in need of help.

Will opened the door and looked in. Nico was sitting on his bed, hugging his legs as his arms hid his face. His hands were gripping his arms so tight he was starting to bleed, he didn't seem to mind though. He was still sopping wet, and the very presence of the angry demigod made the room ice cold, Nico had to be freezing.

Will made his way over to Nico. He sat beside the smaller boy, who tensed up as soon as will got close.

"Nico" Will said softly. He waited for a response, until he realized he wasn't getting one. "Nico, what's wrong?" He put a hand on Nico's shoulder. He half expected him to shove it off, but he didn't, he just sat silently.

Will looked at him for a long time before asking the harder question, the one he knew would set the ghost king off.

"Is it Bianca?" Will felt Nico tense at his sister's name. Will sighed as he thought of what to say next.

"Nico, it's okay, I know it's hard, but she was a great person and I'm sure she's proud of how far you've come." He heard a quiet sob come from the son of hades, then felt him tense up even more.

"Neeks?" Will reached out and cupped Nico's cheek. "Neeks, please say something." A few seconds went by before Nico stood up slowly and pointed coldly at the door.

"Get out." His voice was stone cold, angry, but hurt. Will didn't know what to do, he looked down and tried to think of a way to reason with him.

"Nico.."

"Will, just shut up. You don't get to come in here and talk to me like I'm a child." He turned around to look at Will. His eyes were full of tears, he was very tense and very angry, even Will was a little scared of him.

"Nico, I-"

"No, Will! You do not get to do this. You don't get to talk about my sister like you knew her, like its better this way!" He started pacing and glaring tear filled daggers at the son of Apollo. "Cause you listen to me, Solace. That girl you probably didn't even meet, she was my everything! She was the person who I could go to with everything, she made me feel safe, and secure, happy! I always had her and she always had me, and that's all we needed!" his words started sounding choked. Tears streamed down his face.

He turned away from Will and looked down, his fists and shoulder so very tense. "Until.. until she wasn't. She's gone now.. and.." He started choking on the words." And I have to live with that, I have.. I have to live without her." He shut his eyes as the tears kept coming.

"Nico.. I-." Will couldn't finish. He couldn't think of anything to say.

Nico sat down on his bed and sobbed. Will sighed, he didn't know how to help, so he did the only thing he thought might help. He wrapped his arms around the son of hades. Nico didn't stop him or get angry, he just kept quietly sobbing.

"I'm so sorry, Neeks." No response this time. Will pulled Nico up next to him, keeping his arms wrapped around him. After what felt like 13 minutes maybe, Nico's sobs turned into small whimpers, which turned into silence and sniffles. After 10 more minutes Nico laid his head on Will's shoulder, which made him smile a little. The dark teen felt a lot less tense now, his breathing slowed some too.

"What was she like?" Will asked, laying his head on Nico's.

Will felt Nico sigh, "she was amazing, she always listened to my rants about my stupid figures and cards, she even played them with me."

Will unwrapped one of his arms from the younger demigod and started rubbing his back. He felt Nico tense up but quickly relax into his touch. He sighed comfortably and sniffled some.

"She was always happy, at least made me think she was. She did everything she could to give us a good life, even though we were alone. She was my family, I always had her, and she always had me. All the places we went to together, all the things we saw together. It seemed crazy, but it was our life. I loved it, I was really happy." Nico was leaning into Will now, feeling relaxed finally.

As he talked, he freed one of his arms from Will's hug. He wrapped his free arm around the son of Apollo. The more he talked the closer he tried to be with Will, as if afraid he's going to lose him too.

"She sounds great, I'm happy you got to have a sister like that. And even if she's gone, you know you're not alone." He felt Nico nuzzle into his shoulder. "You have Percy, and Annabeth, Piper, and even Leo, though he's not always the best demigod to go to for anything" Will felt Nico smile, which made him happy.

"You also have me, and I'm always going to be here for you. Whether you like it or not" Will held Nico tighter to show he meant it. He felt Nico smile more and hold Will closer. Will also felt something like a laugh, had he gotten the deathly son of hades to laugh? He'd have to tease him about it later.

"Yeah, but you're even more annoying" Nico's voice was mumbly and sleepy. Will wondered the last time he slept a good night's sleep. He wasn't about to bring it up though, everything was perfect right then.

They kept mumbling pieces of conversations for about half an hour until it went silent. Will listened to Nico's breathing and checked his pulse. Yep, he's asleep.

He slowly moved him so he was laying down. He unwrapped his arm and covered him with a blanket. "sleep well, Death breath" he mumbled before kissing him on the forehead.

He walked to the door, took one last look at the very adorable son of hades, then walked out.

"Is he still pissed?" Leo asked as soon as Will shut the door behind him. Waiting outside were all the demigods from the lake.

"Dudes, what are you doing here?"

Percy threw his arms up, "to make sure you would make it out alive!"

Will smiled, "I'm fine, and more importantly he's fine." Leo took a step towards Nico's door.

"Do you think he'll hang out with us again?"

Will looked at the door, then back at the demigods. "Yeah, he just needs some time alone. Come on, lets go back to the lake, it's getting hot."


End file.
